Gardai investigating Ana Hick death identify possible suspect

Sad: Ana Hick collapsed outside a popular Dublin nightclub at the weekend

Gardai investigating the death of Dublin teen Ana Hick believe they may have identified the individual who had been selling her drugs.

The 18-year-old teenager collapsed outside a popular nightclub in the capital at the weekend and died a short time later in hospital. She had been with friends at the Twisted Pepper on Abbey Street in Dublin when she became gravely ill.

Emergency services were called and she was rushed to the Mater Hospital in critical condition. She later died at the hospital after frantic attempts to save her life.

Although the toxicology reports have not yet been published Gardai are treating the death as a drug-related one.

Initial information gained in the early stages of the investigation have led Gardai to establish a suspect who is believed to have been selling Hick and her friends drugs since late last year.

They believe a man known to the teen and her friends was the individual who sold her the drugs on the night in question. It is believed Hick, who would have turned 19 yesterday, ingested a form of ecstasy tablet before she collapsed.

The news comes as friends and family of the teenager ready themselves for her funeral today.

According to RIP.ie: "Removal Wednesday to the Church of the Assumption, Dalkey arriving for 11.30am Funeral Mass followed by burial in Shanganagh Cemetery. House strictly private."

The notice added Hick will be "deeply missed" by her heartbroken parents, her grandparents, the extended Hick and McMurray families, and "a very wide circle of friends whom she adored."

Gardai are awaiting the results of the toxicology and post-mortem reports.